


I Just Wanna Make You Feel Okay

by silversash



Category: Legacies (TV 2018)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Character Death, Drama, F/F, F/M, Grief/Mourning, Heartbreak, Hosie, Multi, Possible Henelope, Romance, posie - Freeform, the merge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-02
Updated: 2020-08-02
Packaged: 2021-03-06 04:48:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,097
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25677595
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/silversash/pseuds/silversash
Summary: In the aftermath of the Merge and Josie’s death, Hope and Penelope struggle with grief and their feelings.
Relationships: Hope Mikaelson/Josie Saltzman, Hope Mikaelson/Penelope Park, Penelope Park/Josie Saltzman
Comments: 8
Kudos: 55





	I Just Wanna Make You Feel Okay

The night before Josie’s funeral, Alaric holds a gathering for her close friends and family in the school library. It’s nothing formal, just an opportunity for her nearest and dearest to gather together for some comfort before bidding their final farewell to the siphoner.

Hope hadn’t exactly intended on coming, but MG had been adamant she showed face. She hadn’t bothered applying her makeup or tidying her hair, she had just thrown on a black dress and tights before exiting her room for the first time in twenty four hours and forcing herself to be in the presence of other people.

When she enters the room, the first thing she makes note of is the position of Josie’s family in the room and makes sure she’s as far away from them as possible. She’s not ready to face them, not yet.

Instead, she chooses to join MG by the fireplace where he’s greeting Rafael and Kaleb each with a brief hug, each of them cradling a glass of bourbon in their hand. Like most of the guests in the room, their faces bear sad,solemn expressions. Hope just greets them with a silent nod, which is returned. Nobody seems to know what to say.

 _How could they?_ Hope thinks. They had all been equally in denial about this since the day they learned about the Merge.

They had all just lived in hope that the cure would be found long before the girls even hit twenty two.

She wishes she could say nobody expected it to be Josie. But that would be a lie.

Anybody who knew Josie enough to realise she was the stronger twin, also knew her well enough to know she’d stop at nothing to save her sister. Even if it would cost her her own life.

Two more bodies enter the room, joining them by the fireplace. The first is a face she hasn’t seen since school finished. _Landon.  
_His hair is shorter, and he’s definitely more muscular and tanned than last time she saw him - the Californian university life was obviously treating him well. He steps close to her, and nervously places a hand on her shoulder.

“Hey Hope,” he whispers, crestfallen. “I’m so sorry.”

He doesn’t ask her how she is, or if she’s doing okay, which she appreciates. She never understood why people ask that at funerals.

She pulls him in for a quick hug, knowing the loss couldn’t be easy for him either. Josie’s friendship meant a lot to Landon, as it did to all their classmates, but she knew the pair had regular video calls ever since they left school, with Josie helping Landon with his college assignments on the regular.

“Thanks Lan,” she mumbles as she breaks away from him, “It’s good to see you.”

He offers her a half smile, “I better go say hi to everyone. Catch up later?”

When she nods, he turns to greet MG , revealing the ravenette that was patiently waiting behind him to greet the Tribrid.  
“Penelope,” Hope whispers. She’d never seen Penelope cry before, but judging by the girl’s red, puffy eyes and pale expression she would safely bet the girl has been in such a state since she heard the news.

They were never close the few years they knew each other in school, but for some reason or other, Penelope had been the person Hope had been longing to see most tonight.

Wordlessly, she steps forward and wraps the taller girl in her arms. As Penelope cries into her shoulder, Hope can’t help but stroke her hair.

“Sorry,” Penelope sniffles when she finally pulls away from Hope, wiping the tears from her own face. “Just being back here brings back a lot of memories of her, you know?”

Hope nods, having shared the sentiment. Over the past three days she’s spent back in the school grounds she’s seen glimpses of Josie everywhere - at the bottom of every long hallway, around every corner she’s turned, through the glass windows of every classroom.

Every night, part of her longs to hear a knock on her bedroom door, for Josie to peer her head in and ask to cuddle on Hope’s large bed.

The bed has never felt so cold and empty as it has the last three nights. Hope keeps expecting to wake up and find a mop of messy, brunette curls sprawled across her pillows. 

Penelope is the only person who could even partially understand her feelings right now.

Hope feels hot tears prick her eyes. “I’m really glad you’re here Penelope,” she breathes.

* * *

Once all the meeting and greeting is through, they end up drinking bourbon on the roof of the school. Or at least Penelope does, Hope just needs some air and offers to join her. 

“How did you find out?” Hope wants to know, her legs dangling off the side of the roof. The night sky is cold, dark and starless but the crescent moon above them radiates just enough light for her to see Penelope's facial expression fall. 

  
The ravenette replaces the lid on her hip flask as she lets out as deep sigh. “It's pretty shameful. I hid in my room the whole day of their birthday, I spelled myself into a trance so I wouldn’t have to feel anything, so I wouldn’t have to think about it. When I came to a few hours later, I knew she was gone - I was aching all over, my lungs felt like they were closing in. I booked my flight there and then, I rang MG on the way to the airport to confirm.” Penelope whispers gravely. “I should have been there. I was too selfish, too stubborn to say goodbye. I thought that maybe if I stayed in denial about the whole thing, it just wouldn’t happen. I’ll never forgive myself for not being there.”

Hope can’t say she blames the girl. She had thought many times about running, not knowing how her heart was going to cope with the loss.

“I don’t think she’ll hold it against you Penelope, it was a pretty few grim days before it happened. Josie was getting more and more anxious, knowing how upset everybody was as the deadline loomed.”  
“What was it like?” Penelope’s eyes drift away from Hope’s. “Watching her die?”

“I don’t know. The twins wanted to do it in private. We all gathered beforehand to say our goodbyes. She hugged each of us extra tightly, like she knew it would be our last. She said goodbye to me last,” Hope pauses momentarily, her lips tingling as they remember the warm, deep, last kiss Josie left there. “Then Lizzie took her hand, and Josie led them away to the Old Mill. Nobody said anything, we just stood there in a circle in the forest. Nothing but silence, until we heard Lizzie’s screaming cries a few minutes later.”

When Penelope says nothing, Hope glances in her direction only to see the raventte’s face crumple and silent tears spill down her cheeks.

Hope offers out her hand, palm flat. It doesn’t take long for Penelope to take it, intertwining their fingers so their hands clasp together. They sit there in silence for a while, tears streaming down their cheeks but not a word spoken between them. Until finally Hope needs to ask a question that’s been pressing on her lips for most of the evening. 

“Where are you staying tonight?”  
“I booked into a hotel in town.” Penelope replies with a shrug, which causes Hope to blurt out.  
“Why don’t you stay with me?”

“What?” Penelope quirks a confused brow.  
“Sorry,” Hope smiles sheepishly at how unintentionally forward that must have sounded. “I just didn’t think you’d want to be alone. I know I don’t.”

Penelope takes another sip from her flask and a minute to consider the offer before nodding her head, curtly. “That would be nice, thanks Hope.”

When Hope finally graduated from the Salvatore School, Alaric gave her the best possible graduation gift just before she set off for university. Her bedroom.

_“I want you to remember that this will always be a home for you. This room will always be here for you to come back to when you need it.”_

Her first year in college she felt a little guilty taking up a room in the school when she only came to visit once every two months. But a year and a half later, when her and Josie started dating she came home practically every weekend - it was pretty much halfway between their respective colleges after all.

Penelope finds herself feeling very grateful that Hope’s school bedroom is a lot closer to the roof than the hotel she had dumped her suitcases in a few hours earlier. The bourbon and grief are finally starting to take their toll, she feels tired and weak and desperately ready to lie down.

Hope half-carries her down the long hallways, until they reach the door to her room which Hope unlocks and gently pushes the door open.

Penelope stands at the doorway awkwardly, watching the tribrid make her away over towards the large double bed in the centre of the room.  
Noticing how the girl lingers, Hope bites her lip anxiously. “You can share my bed with me, if you don’t mind that is?”  
  


Penelope seems to be unsure but seeing the worried look on Hope’s face pushes her to follow the other girl over to her bed.  
Hope throws her leather jacket on to a chair near her bed, not bothering to take off the rest of her black outfit before slipping under the covers. Penelope’s hands shake as she pulls back the blankets on the side of the bed that evidently haven’t been slept in in the past few days.

“I can smell her,” she whispers aloud without meaning to. This causes Hope to frown.

“I’m sorry,” she mumbles, somewhat ashamed. “I haven’t been able to bring myself to wash the sheets. I don’t know how I’m going to survive not waking up to her scent anymore.”

Penelope decides to lie on top of the covers instead, the pillow beneath her engulfing her with Josie’s vanilla scent.

“Thanks for letting me stay here. It would have been awful in that hotel by myself,” the ravenette speaks after a minute.  
“You can stay with me as long as you want,” Hope murmurs, her face half hidden in her pillow. “I don’t mind the company, really.” 

“I really wish we could press fast forward on tomorrow,” Penelope says with a heavy sigh. Attending any funeral is grim, never mind Josie’s. She doesn’t know how she will be able to handle everyone around her emotions, she can barely get a grip on her own.  
“Alaric will be glad you made it,” Hope tells her. “I think Lizzie will appreciate it too."

Penelope simply quirks her eyebrow. "That's debatable."  
Hope tries not to ignore the comment. "You should sit with me for the service.”  
“What? In the same row as her family? Hope that would be wrong.”  
“Penelope you were one of the most important people in Josie’s life. You belong up there as much as I do.”  
Penelope shakes her head. “That’s not true Hope.”

“You were her first love Penelope , that’s always going to mean something.”  
Penelope gives her a small smile. “And you were her last love Hope. She knew she was going to die. You were the person she decided would make her happy right until the very end. I’m glad it was you, you know. I knew you wouldn’t leave her until the very end.”

Hope sighs, remembering how Josie tried to break it off a few months before the Merge when realization had started to sink in that a cure might never be found. Being her stubborn self Hope refused which somehow made Josie more upset. When they reconciled with cuddles later that night, Josie confessed that she felt bad about yet another person Hope loved was going to die on her. Hope’s heart shattered into a million pieces that night, realizing Josie had finally given up.

They’ve fallen into a comfortable silence. Penelope lies on her back, trying to will herself to sleep but it’s proving difficult when she can still hear Hope sobbing softly into her pillow.

She turns on to her side so as to face Hope who’s trying to choke back her tears as she whispers a question.

“How do I get my heart to stop aching Penelope?”

Penelope’s glassy eyes meet hers. “I wish I had the answer.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading.  
> This is going to be sad and honestly I never want to see Josie killed off but I have a plan for this story so if you guys like it so far let me know and I'll continue :)


End file.
